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Van Garderen takes lead at USA Pro Challenge

By John Henderson The Denver Post

Posted:
08/21/2012 09:06:12 PM MDT

Updated:
08/21/2012 09:08:23 PM MDT

A brave fan tries to keep ahead of riders as they crest a long hill along Highway 135 towards Crested Butte.
The second annual USA Pro Challenge held it's second stage today August 21st, 2012 starting in the small western slope town of Montrose and finished in Mount Crested Butte. The course covered 99 miles with an average speed of the riders going 24.9 mph. The race had three King of the Mountains the first on Cerro Summit at 7,197 feet, the second at Blue Mesa summit at 8,672 feet and the final coming into Mount Crested Butte at 9,424 feet. BMC Racing's Tejay Van Garderen won today's stage.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post (The Denver Post)

MOUNT CRESTED BUTTE -- After 99 miles and with only100 yards to go, two cyclists sat wheel to wheel Tuesday afternoon. On the line weren't just the yellow jersey of the USA Pro Challenge or staking claim as the race's overall favorite or even in-state bragging rights for two guys with big-time Colorado ties.

For Boulder-resident Tejay van Garderen and former Boulderite Christian Vande Velde, now with Boulder-based Team Garmin-Sharp, 100 yards ahead represented the end of droughts too long to comprehend.

Vande Velde, 36, hadn't won a stage race in nearly three years. Van Garderen, 24, despite being the new future of American racing, hadn't won a stage race since ... since ... well, he never had as a professional.

As it turned out, the future was now. Van Garderen pulled away from Vande Velde and won his first stage of his four-year pro career. Technically, it wasn't van Garderen's first win. Last year he won the time trial at the Tour of Utah.

But that wasn't nearly as much fun.

"Since it was a time trial I didn't get to put my hands in the air," he said.

Keep in mind this is the man who took fifth in last month's Tour de France. His career has so many white Best Young Rider jerseys he could white wall his bedroom. Unfortunately, he prefers yellow.

He has that -- for now. Despite the dramatic win, Vande Velde has the same time and the duo finished only eight seconds ahead of defending-champion Levi Leipheimer of Pharma Omega-QuickStep, the co-favorite with van Garderen, and six ahead of Russian Ivan Rovny of the Russian Continental team, Rusvelo.

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"Right now there's really not a big time gap," van Garderen said. "All it would take is a little bit of a gap and a bunch sprint for me to be on the wrong side of it and Christian take the jersey. It's certainly not over."

Tuesday's win came after a dramatic comeback in which Vande Velde and van Garderen led a peloton that came from as much as 4:10 back of a 12-man breakaway with less than 23 miles left.

But as the elevation began sinking in as well as the effects of two Category 3 (5 is the lowest) climbs over 7,973-foot Cerro Summit and 8,719-foot Blue Mesa Summit, the gap disappeared.

When the breakaway reached Gothic Road, just two miles from the summit finish, van Garderen's Swiss teammate on BMC Racing Team, Mathias Frank, made a break. It didn't last long.

Van Garderen flew past him. Only one problem: So did Vande Velde.

"To be honest, I thought he was going to win," van Garderen said. "He was tight, locked on my wheel the whole time and I couldn't shake him. Once he started to sprint me a little bit, I thought it was game over. But I was going to try."

Vande Velde did pass him on the last curve headed toward Gothic Road's ski resorts. That was as far as he got.

"I went for it," said Vande Velde who hadn't won since Stage 4 of the 2009 Paris-Nice. "I thought he might be at his limit but immediately after I did it I had nothing left."

Vande Velde may have lost, but he won a lot of faith. Last year's runner-up may just have enough to win it all this week. He recovered enough from injuries in the Tour de France to finish 12th in last week's Tour of Utah.

"When you get older you're not good at the short climbs like this," Garmin-Sharp CEO Jonathan Vaughters said. "You're good on the steady Eddie ones. The fact that he did well (Tuesday) on an explosive climb showed he's definitely in good condition."

"Christian's certainly looking like he's riding strong," van Garderen said. "He looked good in Utah and he looks even better now. I think if I can just hold him, not let him get away, that I can beat him in the time trial. I'm confident in saying that."

For Vande Velde, the search continues.

"It's always hard especially how close that was," he said. "That was hard to take. Tejay's a great champion and he's had a great year so far so there's nothing to be ashamed of."

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